The progress of electronics technology has increasingly improved the quality of life of the average person in a number of ways. For example, the delivery of radio and television programming by way of terrestrial, satellite, and cable signals to an audio/video receiver unit or set-top box located in the typical home now provides users access to an unprecedented amount of entertainment, news, weather, and sports programming. While much of the programming is provided primarily for the general interest and enjoyment of the viewer, the receiver unit or set-top box also provides a communication path over which news and weather information of imminent importance may be disseminated to a large number of users within a short period of time, thus enhancing the safety of the general public.
Additionally, more recently available electronics technology provides important information of a personal nature to the user. For example, home security equipment is often available with one or more video surveillance cameras that may allow a user to view important areas around the user's own home, such as the main entryway, thus allowing the user to identity a visitor effectively without approaching the front doorway. Even much simpler electronic devices, such as infant audio monitors, provide a user with important information regarding the welfare of a sleeping child. Further, personal weather stations that may be installed at a person's home to provide the user with timely local weather information. In each of these cases, the resulting information, while of a much more personal nature, is often no less important to the user than the broadcast programming described above.